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East-Himalayan Spider Plant
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East-Himalayan Spider Plant
P Native Photo: Manoranjan Paramanik
Common name: East-Himalayan Spider Plant, Indian Spider Plant • Hindi: Safed Musli
Botanical name: Chlorophytum arundinaceum    Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)
Synonyms: Anthericum tuberosum

East-Himalayan Spider Plant is a perennial herb with a short hard root stocks; roots often thick, fleshy and cylindrical. The leaves are 15-35 cm long and lanceshaped. The plant is considered endangered in the country. Flowering stem is longer than the leaves, up to 40 cm long. Flowers are borne in a dense raceme which is shortly branched. Flowers are white, occuring in pairs; bracts small, membranous; flower-stalks about 7 mm, jointed above middle. Tepals are 6, white, oblong, about 8 mm long, anthers as long as or longer than the filaments and yellow in color. Capsule is 3-lobed; seeds circular, wrinkled. East-Himalayan Spider Plant is found in the East Himalaya, from Nepal to NE India and Myanmar, at altitudes of 500-1200 m.
Medicinal uses: Tubers having medicinal value are used as general tonic, containing the steroid sapogenine, protein and calcium. Tubers are fat free and they have high aphrodisiac property. It is also useful in diseases like renal calculus, leucorrhoea and diabetes.

Identification credit: Manoranjan Paramanik Photographed in Purulia, West Bengal.

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